Farmina N&D Pumpkin Dry DOG FOOD Review

With an average score of 4.8, Farmina N&D Pumpkin Dry dog food is considered a high risk food. It also scores second lowest of all Farmina’s dry foods. There are 12 recipes that average 31% protein and 31% carbohydrate as calculated, which is average for a kibble. 

Dogs have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrates but they are used for energy, texture and taste. Starch is also required for extrusion in dry foods. Excessive carbohydrate is an indicator of food quality as it can be used to reduce manufacturing cost. Foods that are rich in carbohydrates can increase insulin levels, increase the risk of obesity and cause unwanted changes to the gut microbiome. 

This line is lower in protein than a premium kibble. There are added amino acids that can reflect lower quality protein.

Apart from the added amino acids, this line loses ingredient quality points because they are supplemented with more than 5 vitamins and minerals. This can indicate lower quality or incomplete ingredients. Vitamin and mineral excesses, especially vitamin D and copper can also result from added vitamin premixes, so it’s preferable that most or all vitamins and minerals come from real foods. However, it’s good to see that selenium is added in the form of selenium yeast, the preferred form vs sodium selenite, which can be toxic.

It’s good to see that Farmina uses non-GMO grains but that doesn’t mean the foods are pesticide-free. Other crops appear to be conventionally farmed which affects ingredient safety. Unless organic, crops like peas, spinach and apples can carry a high pesticide/herbicide residue, especially legumes like peas that are often spray-dried with Roundup. Glyphosate is an antibiotic that can kill beneficial gut bacteria and has been linked to cancer and other diseases. So this line loses ingredient safety points for that reason, and for using alfalfa which is a known GMO. 

Like all kibbles, this line also loses ingredient safety points because it is ultra-processed. Extruded foods are heated four separate times during production, which will cause major losses in some active enzymes, vitamins, amino acids and phytonutrients. Studies show that ultra processed foods are linked to a higher rate of all-cause mortality in humans.  

All of these recipes use ingredient splitting. This is when ingredients are split into sub-categories to move certain ingredients higher or lower on the ingredient list. This is often used to disguise the amount of lower quality ingredients in the food, such as corn, potatoes or peas, and moves desirable ingredients, like proteins, higher.

The recipes also contain glam ingredients. These are healthy sounding ingredients (like turmeric, aloe vera concentrate or green tea extract) that appear below the salt. This means they’re included in minute amounts that likely won’t benefit your dog.

It’s also worth noting that Farmina doesn’t state the omega-6:omega-3 ratio in their foods. While this is true of most foods, it’s unfortunate since AAFCO allows a very inflammatory limit of 30:1. 

The foods also contain herring or herring oil, but they don’t say whether the food is wild caught or farmed.